KISS’ Gene Simmons has said that he once bought an AFL team for one day in order to pay less tax in Australia, but the club in question says that never happened.
In a recent interview, Simmons was asked about the fact that in his reality television show Gene Simmons Family Jewels, the rocker is said to have purchased the Carlton Blues Football Club, despite the fact there’s no public record of the purchase actually happening.
In fact, in a statement to Music Feeds, a spokesperson for Carton Football Club says it was all a joke.
“This was all a publicity stunt for his show, the club was never sold to him, as we are not privately owned,” they say.
“He was never an owner or part-owner of the Carlton Football Club.”
However, in his recent interview with Loudwire, Simmons said, “The reality is that I did purchase it.
“It was a one-day purchase, and it’s called a ‘fold back’ I think, where you go in, and it was a way to shield Australian taxes.
“As soon as you earn money offshore, you have to pay offshore taxes. And then that’s put against the American taxes, but they hold on to your money, and while they hold on to your money you don’t get the benefit of the…
“You know, they loan out your money while they hold on to it for a year. It’s an old banking trick, and it’s legal.
“To circumvent that what you wanna do is minimise your legal and tax exposure.”
You can watch Simmons talk about his alleged purchase of Carlton in the interview below, alongside a clip of him walking through the Carlton shop and suggesting they install a stripper pole.
KISS also bought an Arena Football League team in the US back in 2013, and looking back on that now it’s hard not to question if it was in fact a tax dodge.
Simmons will tour Australia in a solo capacity early next year, so let’s hope he also reunites with his old mates from Carlton.
